Netflix, Marvel moving ahead with new series

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Several online news outlets are saying that writers are being lined up to work on new original shows being developed in a partnership between the Marvel comics company and Netflix for its streaming video service.

Marvel and Netflix announced Thursday that they will develop four live-action, 13-episode series will begin streaming in 2015. Marvel Entertainment President Alan Fine says the shows will be “a serialized epic” that begins with Marvel’s “Daredevil” and is followed by “Jessica Jones,” “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage.” It will conclude with a miniseries of “The Defenders.”

Drew Goddard, a writer-producer for “Lost” and “Alias,” as well as a writer on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” is negotiating to write “Daredevil” for Netflix/Disney, according to The Wrap. Goddard also directed “The Cabin in the Woods,” and co-wrote the script with Joss Whedon, The Wrap said. “Daredevil” is a blind lawyer in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, whose other senses are preternaturally heightened.

Melissa Rosenberg, screenwriter for the “Twilight” films, will develop “Jessica Jones,” the story of a superhero who gives up her costume and becomes a private investigator, the Hollywood Reporter says. Rosenberg also worked on ABC’s “Red Widow” and previously developed about the character Jessica Jones for ABC, “AKA Jessica Jones.”

Last year, Netflix acquired the paid-TV rights to Walt Disney Studios movie releases beginning in 2016. Marvel Entertainment is owned by Disney. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The development order is the most ambitious TV foray for the superhero factory Marvel. This fall it debuted “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” on Disney’s ABC.